Mind in its Purity

The capacity of Mind to create illusions is the philosophy of Shankara who is hailed as a greater intellect than Buddha. The film The Matrix depicts forcefully the physical aspect of Mind.

Mind is not defined by Man as he is NOT outside it. He is inside Mind, part of it. He is a function of Mind. He is really identified with his Mind.

To understand Mind, one needs to be outside of it, having given up his identification with it. The first step is to know he is identified with Mind.

All philosophies are the exertions of human Mind.

Sri Aurobindo has given us a description of the constitution of Mind, its origin as well as the process by which it is constituted.

Even to appreciate that description one needs to be outside Mind.

Mind, HE says, is an instrument of division. Whenever an object is presented to it, it looks at one part of it and dissects that part out of the whole and entirely confines itself to the part, considering that part to be the whole.

When we go to a shop, we severely restrict ourselves to buying what we want and never go beyond to know the whole of the shop. A friend of several years standing is to us what he is to us and only that. Even our own self is known by us only in the functional part. We scarcely go behind it to our existence.

The Moment we see this limitation and want to outgrow that, as Neo in The Matrix, we discover the Truth and capacities to deflect bullets arises. Doing that, one does what Shankara could not do. Shankara's Maya – illusion -- is then seen not as illusion, but Ignorance. Evolution is to let knowledge evolve out of Ignorance. That is a moment of evolutionary awakening, a moment that tastes the JOY Brahman has set out seeking. It is a MOMENT of TRUTH. One steps into the Hour of God. It may be a fleeting second but a precious second. With that moment being there, every further argument becomes live, full and rich. Without that, they reduce to intellectuality, dry and insipid. Quickly we see we do not follow the argument.

Assuming that moment is there or at least we are seeking that moment, every argument will be in place. Non-egoistic understanding gives us that opening.

While Mind has not been described so far, Sri Aurobindo has explained Mind and its origin Supermind and Spirit. He has also explained life and Matter that issue out of it. To know all those definitions is to essentially complete our knowledge. To briefly state,

Spirit is the subjective experience of Sat.

Supermind is the nature of Sachchidananda where Truth acquires consciousness of the comprehensive vast rhythm of existence.

Mind is born when Supermind splits into Time and Timeless planes between them.

The knowledge and will into which Mind divides itself enables knowledge to work on will releasing a plane of energy which is life.

In the process of knowledge working on will, a little of that knowledge is lost. When all the knowledge is lost, life becomes Matter.

Mind is of Supermind which has the vision of the whole. Mind being a part of it has the ability to see one part of the whole at one time and can see the other part if it chooses. This is the original capacity of Mind. When it refuses to see the other side, Ignorance is born which is more and more organised as below.

Mind's identifying with itself is to make the Ignorance entrenched.

It can identify itself with its workings at a further stage.

The identification can be extended to life and Matter where Ignorance is full.

The liberation of the Mind is a reverse process which can start at the mental plane.

Withdrawal from the identification of thoughts – Silence.

Withdrawal from sense identification – Pure faculties of Mind.

Withdrawal from Mind, life, Matter are the further stages.

Thinking is to indulge thought. So silence is sought.

Mind has two parts -- Buddhi, Pure Mind and Manas, Sense Mind.

Withdrawing from the sense mind, one goes to pure Mind which can see, hear, etc without the aid of senses.

Capacity of the Mind to accomplish arises from a clear, well-formulated thought accepted by the vital and executed by the action of the body. This is the process the world follows. This can be raised in effectivity and its time requirement can be abridged to the point of abolition.

To raise the level of Mind.

One should resort to the whole of the Mind from its part.

Higher faculties of Mind make it more efficient.

Withdraw of identification with the Mind is the most powerful method as it is endless.

Let us start with a work the Mind set out to do. Let it be of a duration of 10 or 20 years when it is efficiently executed.

I skip the efficiency part of it as it is before we start.

When fully formulated the work is and exists as an IDEA.

Withdrawing from the IDEA, we see the work exists as vital energy or feeling.

Continuing the withdrawal, the work is seen as the SENSATION of the bodily substance. Further withdrawal precipitates the WORK at once.

Instead of withdrawing from the IDEA, one can surrender the Idea.

Withdrawal is part of surrender.

What then is surrender and how does surrender become that powerful?

Creation is along the line Absolute – Sat – Supermind – Mind – Life – Matter.

As we are in the plane of Mind, accomplishment effectuates itself accomplishing through causality.

Surrender enables us to withdraw from thought and then Mind.

It is capable of withdrawing further until the I becomes the Soul and the evolving soul, the Psychic Being.

Moving thus, one moves from Time to Supramental Time – the simultaneous integrality of Time Eternity and Timeless Eternity. I call it the third dimension of Time.

When Mind become Pure, it accomplishes its work which needs to reach the act of the body, instantaneously.

In the chapter on 'Mind and Supermind' in The Life Divine He explained this, especially on pages 163 and 164.

This is of capital importance in understanding HIM.

In an affectionately family where all relate to all others in emotions and share thoughts, the house is a single emotional unit. We see in Pride and Prejudice the whole family comes out of the house each time to receive or see off someone.

There are families where each lives to himself. There is little sympathy in anyone for others and no sharing of information.

By a conscious choice, a whole family of expansive joy becomes a lone individual of dry disappointment.

I hesitate to extend this analogy to the life choices we make lest I should sound unrealistic. In a world of abundance, this choice makes us poor.

At school there are two things that can be done.

To give the child this perspective of the whole that is rich and abundant.

To lead him to possess it as his own from inside.

Teamwork achieves more. But to make the child SEE the difference between teamwork and non-co-operation, preferably silently, is not easy.

Teamwork is physical. At the next level, an attitude of cooperation with others, with everyone will make a child's capacity rise in multiples.

To extend these experiences to mind and let the mind see that it has endless potentials if only it is not enamoured of its opinions is a work that involves thinking and feeling on a vast scale. There is more.

In our two schools, a lot of psychological foundation is laid for these achievements. But to actually achieve it is another thing.

The films 'The Matrix' and 'Contact' have made great impressions on the western mind.

To know what mind is from this chapter – 'Mind and Supermind' - and to practise it successfully on ourselves or on a young mind that is flowering at the age of 14 is a great psychological feat.

To be able to present to an intelligent audience the theme, "Mind sees the whole as a part" through any medium requires a creative capacity.

Should we be able to place before the world the ideas ''Mind is a dividing instrument", "It sees parts as a whole", "It is incapable of conceiving the whole", will be a great spiritual progress in our mental field.